ed, we are hearing the president and house speaker john boehner actually talked by phone not too long ago. >> that's right, harris. we confirmed that there was a phone call between the two leaders this afternoon. no major progress but i'm told by one aide briefed on the call, this is more than they have done in a long time. so, maybe it's something they can build upon. but the bottom line is the president added somewhat of a new wrinkle today because he doesn't just want to deal with the spending and tax issues on the table and the so-called cliff, fiscal cliff, he also wants to deal with raising the debt ceiling which caused so much controversy a year and a half ago. take a listen to the president today. >> if congress in any way suggests they are going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes, and take us to the brink of default once again, as part of a budget negotiation which by the way we have never done in our history until we did it last year, i will not play that game. >> now, republics may not want to include the debt ceiling extension lifting that ceiling in these negotiati